Machine for forming concrete building-blocks.



Nmv'mm. 1 BATENTED DEG. 13,1904.

J: H. STEWART.

MACHINE FOR FORMING CONCRETE BUILDING BLOCKS.

APPLIUATION FILED MAY 24. 1904. N0 MODEL. 2SHEET3-BHEET 1.

WITH/88158: mvmmn g JOHN Jf. dTEWART,

No. 777,557. PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904. J. H. STEWART.

MACHINE FOR FORMING CONCRETE BUILDING BLOCKS.

APPLICATION 211.21) MAY 24 1904.

NO MODEL. 2 SHEEN-SHEET 2.

Fig.3.

NITED STATES Patented December 13, 190 1u PATENT OEEICE.

JOHN H. STEWART, or WATERLOO, IOWA, ASSIGNOR T0 STEWART CEMENT BLOCK MACHINE COMPANY, or WATERLOO, IOWA.

MACHINE FOR FORMING CONCRETE BUILDING-BLOOKS- SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 777,557, dated December 13, 1904.

Application filed May 2 1, 1904. Serial No. 209,438. (No model.)

to more particularly effect improvements in my machine which was patented by me on September 1, 1903, under No. 737,881, by adding means whereby the core may be withdrawn from the mold when desired independently of the ordinary action, and to also otherwise simplify the construction by eliminating certain elements and substituting others, and

by providing means for adjusting" the size of the mold as desired.

These objects 1 have attained by the mechanism which is hereinafter described and claimed and which is illustrated in the drawings hereto annexed, in Which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine, and Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same.

Similar numbers refer to similar parts throughout both views.

My said machine has a mold with drop sides 32 33' 37 38 and vertically movable and removable bottom plate 7 2. This bottom plate 72 is provided with rectangular openings for the passage therethrough of cores 30 31. Side pieces 23, which are provided with slots 28 29, the latter being bearings for the studs 26 27 on the inner arms 24- and 25 of the dropbraces 39 31116.41, depend from the raclcframe 49. The drop-braces 39 and 41 are adjustably connected to the end plates 37 and 38 by the bolts 43 4A: and 47 48, respectively. Said drop-braces are also pivoted in uprights attached to the machine-frame at 53 and 55, respectively. The drop-braces 56 57 are respectively adjustably connected to the side plates 32 33 by means of the bolts 58 60 and 59 61. The drop-braces 56 and 57, as well as 34:, are pivoted adjustably in certain of several bearing-holes in uprights attached to the machinea horizontal slot, such as 62, in the upper expanded portion of the rack-frame 5G 51. This rack-frame is supplied on each side with a rack with in wardly-extending teeth,said teeth being meshed into those of a pair of gears 1 and 2, the latter also meshing with each other and being supported on the horizontal shafts 13 and 1d, set in bearings in the machineframe 46. The bottom plate of the cores 30 31 has a downward extension 22, furnished with a threaded opening 70, in which is fitted the upper threaded end of the shaft 17. This connection is supplied for the purpose of adjustment of the length of said shaft when necessary.

A crank 45 extends from the inner end of the sleeve 1 on the shaft 13 and is pivoted to the lower end of the shaft 17. The bottom plate of the cores is maintained in line and prevented from sagging or warping under a torsional stress by means of upright guides 16, 18, and 19, moving in bearings .15, 20, and 21, respectively. A lever3, with its attached handle-bar 5, is keyed to the shaft 13, while an auxiliary lever extends from the sleeve 4 and has an attached handle-bar 6, The sleeve 4 is rotatable about the shaft 13, but does not move about said shaft unless the handle-bar 6 is disconnected from the handle-bar 5. For ordinary use the two handle-bars are connected together by means of a hasp 9, pivoted on the handlebar 6, and which engages a catch 8 on the handle-bar 5. The hasp is operated by means of a link 10, connected to the pivoted handpiece 12, which latter is supplied with a spring 11 for the purpose of keeping the hasp 9 normally in engagement with the catch. The handle-bar 5 also has a dog 71, adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet-bar 7, the latter being attached to the machine-frame.

The side plates 32 and 33 are capable of horizontal adjustment within the uprights on the frame, as shown.

When the two handlebars 5 and 6 are in the position shown, being clutched together, and are together moved downward, the operation of the machine is as follows: The cores 30 and 31 are lowered by the action of the crank on the shaft 17, while the bottom plate 7 2 and the side and end plates 32 33 37 38 are moved, respectively, upward or outward by the action of the rising rack-bars 5O 51. hen the handle-bars are elevated, the said actions are reversed. These are the ordinary movements of the machine; but at times it becomes necessary for the operator to lower the cores 3O 31 independently of the ordinary action. In that case the hasp 9 is disengaged from the catch 8, when the handle-bar 6 may be moved separately downward, moving along the rotatable sleeve 4 aboutthe shaft 13, thus actuating alone the crank 45 and lowering the cores 30 31 without moving the bottom or side and end plates of the mold. The object of this is to enable the operator to (when desired) separate the cores .from the molded block just before the movement of the handlebar 5 actuates the other parts of the machine. This prevents sudden separation of the block from the cores, obviating consequent breakage of the soft block.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A machine for forming concrete building-blocks, consisting of the combination with a mold having swinging sides and ends, of a reciprocating core, a reciprocating bottom plate having openings for the core, mechanism connecting and operating the core, the swinging sides and ends and the bottom plate, and a two-part lever adapted to actuate the core either simultaneously with or independently from the said sides and ends and bottom plate, substantially as shown and described.

2. A machine for forming concrete build ing-blocks, consisting of the combination of a mold having swinging sides and ends, means for adjusting the position of said sides and ends, a reciprocating core, a reciprocating bottom plate having openings for the core, mechanism connecting and operating the core, the swinging sides and ends and the bottom plate, and a two-part lever adapted to actuate the core either simultaneously with or independently from the said sides and ends and the bottom plate, substantially as shown and described.

3. A machine for forming concrete building-blocks, consisting of the combination of a mold having swinging sides and ends, a reciprocating core, guides for said core, a reciprocating bottom plate having openings for the core, mechanism connecting and operating the core, the swinging sides and ends and the bottom plate, and a two-part lever adapted to actuate the core either simultaneously with or independently from the said sides and ends and bottom plate, substantially as shown and described. I

L. A machine for forming concrete build ing-blocks, consisting of the combination of amold having swinging sides and ends, means for adjusting the position of said sides and ends, a reciprocating core, guides for said core, a reciprocating bottom plate having an opening for the core, mechanism connecting and operating the core, the swinging sides and ends and the bottom plate, and atwo-part lever adapted to actuate the core either simultaneously with or independently from the said sides and ends and the bottom plate, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a machine for forming concrete building-blocks, a separable two-part lever, adapted when connected together to actuate all the parts of said machine simultaneously and when separated to actuate the core independently of the other mechanism, substantially as shown and described.

Signed at \Vaterloo, Iowa, this 21st day of May, 1904:.

JOHN H. STEWVART. 

